June 24 Historical Events

The following events took place on June 24. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 55 events. Showing 31 - 55.

• 1916
  Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract.
• 1916
  World War I: The Battle of the Somme begins with a week-long artillery bombardment on the German Line.
• 1918
  First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.
• 1932
  A bloodless revolution instigated by the People’s Party ends the absolute power of King Prajadhipok of Siam (now Thailand).
• 1938
  Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, land near Chicora, Pennsylvania.
• 1939
  Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country’s third prime minister.
• 1940
  World War II: Operation Collar, the first British Commando raid on occupied France, by No 11 Independent Company.
• 1947
  Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.
• 1948
  Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
• 1949
  The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.
• 1954
  First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
• 1957
  In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.

• 1963
  The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.
• 1967
  The worst caving disaster in British history takes six lives at Mossdale Caverns.
• 1973
  The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Thirty-two people die as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.
• 1981
  The Humber Bridge is opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It would be the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge for 17 years.
• 1982
  “The Jakarta Incident”: British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
• 1989
  Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
• 1995
  “Rugby World Cup final”: South Africa defeats New Zealand, Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb-Ellis trophy in an iconic post-apartheid moment.
• 2002
  The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history.
• 2004
  In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
• 2010
  John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history.
• 2010
  Julia Gillard assumed office as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
• 2012
  Lonesome George, the last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies.
• 2013
  Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and having sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison.